T
TH E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
January, 1940
NESS may bring back to many who revere his memory a ires’" anointing of the same Spirit who moved so might ily upon him. Come, Holy Spirit Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove, With all Thy quick’ning powers; Kindle a flame of sacred love In these cold hearts of ours.
^ Torrey’ s Use of Precious Minutes People who said.Dr. Torrey lacked sociability merely approached him at the wrong time. He was a prince in matters of courtesy. But when he needed time for the Lord, he knew how to say to people simply, “How do you do?” or “Good-bye.” I often traveled with him to meet ings, and I used to wonder that, on these trips together, I could never engage him in conversation. One night, returning to Chicago from Hammond, Ind., he said to me, “Jim, do you know why I don’t talk to you on our way to meetings? I will tell you. No matter how many times I have preached a sermon, I never go.to preach until I get every point of that sermon freshly and clearly in my mind, so that the devil has no opportunity to confuse my mental powers and thus hinder the working of the Spirit of God.” James R. “Railroad Jim” Smith, Kingman, Ariz. • A Commencement Exhortation When Dr. Torrey gave us our diplo mas (I was privileged to be one of the three members of the first grad uating class to receive diplomas from his hand, June, 1912), he spoke brief ly words that I have not forgotten during the past twenty-two years in Korea; he bade us to remember the power of the blood of Christ, the power of the Word of God, the power of the Holy Spirit, the power of pray er, and, finally, the power of per sonal work, individual preaching to individuals. How I thank God for the life, and teaching, and friendship, and prayers of R. A. Torrey! Harry J. Hill, Pyongyang, Korea. • High Standards for Students In the classroom, Dr. Torrey de manded of the students the best they had, and was satisfied with nothing less. He was very firm, but also very just. If a student, when called upon, answered “not prepared,” he knew he would be questioned before the class as to his unpreparedness. This requirement was quite embarrassing,' unless one had a valid reason, fit which case Dr. Torrey was always kind and considerate. Otherwise^ he could be pretty severe—with the logi cal result that the words “ndt pre pared” were heard in Dr. Torrey’s classes much less frequently than In the others! Mrs. Lyman.'’Stewart, f ♦ Los Angeles, Calif.
hind it an impress upon the city that lifted its spiritual tone for more than a decade. How greatly was the power of God manifested through His yielded servant! I often visualize Dr. Torrey as I saw and heard him during the nights that followed my conversion, and gladly bear testimony after all these years to the influence of his deep spirituality, and the logic of his gospel presentation, and I pray this issue of THE 1. TG’S BUSI-
—Isaac Watts.
"Remember.. Contemplate ...Imitate" By F. C. H. DREYER Chefoo, Shantung, North China
M Y FIRST contact with R. A. Torrey was in 1892, when I was a student in the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. In common with the other students, I reveled in the “feast of fat things” from the Word of God that he spread before us. The outstanding event during my time at the Institute was Mr. Moody’s great evangelistic campaign during the Chi cago World’s Fair in 1893. How rich in experience for us students were all these meetings! Dr. Torrey was Mr. Moody’s chief-of-staff, and thus we students were brought into closer touch with him. I was assigned to work in the Moody Church in connection with a large Bible class, of which Dr. Torrey was the teacher. This afforded the opportunity of learning some of the most precious lessons of my Christian life. When I felt the call to become a missionary to China under the China Inland Mission, Dr. Torrey, of his own accord, put my name on his prayer list. He was like a father to me right up to the time of his death. His letters were always so encouraging [Benefiting greatly from their con tacts with Dr. Torrey, M r. and Mrs. Dreyer, members of the China Inland Mission, were able to establish in 1910 the Shansi Bible Institute in Hungtung, Shansi, China. Several hundred young men passed through their hands for training in the eighteen years of their service in the school. In connection with that work, M r. Dreyer prepared in Chi nese a book entitled Studies in Bible Doc trine, which contains, along with other material, most of Dr. Torrey’s What the Bible Teaches, and has been a text book in a dozen or more theological seminaries and Bible Institutes of China. H e has also written numerous volumes of the Mandarin Bible Commentary .]
and helpful that it was a joy to receive them—and, busy as he was, one could always count upon a prompt answer to every letter. . Even during his great evangelistic campaigns, we corresponded quite regularly, and almost invariably he reminded me that he was continuing to pray for me by name day by day. This message had a very solemnizing effect upon me. I said to myself, “Here is a busy man. upon whose words thou sands are hanging, and yet he finds time day by day to pray definitely for me, a lonely missionary in far-off inland China!” It made me realize my respon sibility to be my best for God. As the years have passed, I have come to rea lize in an increasing measure that what ever blessing has attended my ministry in China has been, in the providence of God, very largely due to Dr. Torrey and other praying friends. The crowning privilege came in 1921, on one of Dr. Torrey’s visits to China. We were in Shanghai when he and Mrs. Torrey arrived, and what a joy it was to welcome them! And later, what an opportunity it was to be asked to ac company him on some of his journeys in China, to act as his escort and inter preter at various Bible conferences! To be permitted to be Dr. Torrey’s inter preter was wonderful, but yet more wonderful was it to share his room on different occasions during our journey- ings, and to enjoy the closest fellowship with such a man of God as Dr. Torrey was. Never shall I forget the impres sion he made upon me at that time. Every memory I have of Dr. Torrey is sacred. Thinking of him, I am re minded of Way’s translation of Hebrews 13:7: “Remember those who once were your spiritual guides, who uttered to you the word of God. Contemplate the issue of their life, an ' imitate their faith.” Truly such a life as this one furnishes much to remember, to contem plate, and to imitate.
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